In treating toilet flush water with chemicals in order to produce desirable effects such as bowl aesthetics, cleaning, disinfection, deodorization, aerosol reduction, etc., it is desirable that the chemicals be dispensed into the flush water automatically each time the toilet is flushed. The prior art discloses numerous devices which have been designed for this purpose.
Particularly desirable devices are those comprising a solid cake composition. In this type of device, a measured amount of water enters the device during one flush cycle and remains in contact with the cake between flushes, thereby forming a concentrated solution of the composition which is dispensed into the flush water during the next flush. The advantages of such devices are that the chemical composition can be packaged and shipped in more concentrated form than aqueous solutions of tee chemicals. Also, the problems of liquid spillage resulting from breakage of the dispensers during shipment or handling is eliminated.
Prior art surfactant cake compositions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,625, Kitko, issued Jan. 5, 1982, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,931, Jeffrey et al, issued Aug. 23, 1977. These patents disclose a lavoratory cleansing tablet which is formed with two or more nonionic surfactants which includes the of polyalkoxylated alcohols. U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,363, Wong et al, issue Oct. 16, 1984, discloses a solid cake comprising free fatty alcohol and a buffered alkali earth metal alkyl sulfate surfactant. U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,434, Choy et al, issued Jan. 12, 1982; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,571, Choy, issued July 14, 1981, entitled "Surfactant Cake Compositions"; all of which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose surfactant cake compositions containing dyes and perfumes which are utilized in the present invention. The surfactants provide cleaning and sudsing in the toilet bowl and also serve to dispense other components of the compositions such as dyes, perfumes, organic resins, etc.
Water-soluble inert salts such as alkali metal chlorides and sulfates are used in such compositions to act as a "filler" so that the composition can be formed int cakes of desirable size without using excessive amounts of active ingredients. The predominant ingredients of the cake compositions are usually the surfactant, perfume and the filler salt.
Automatically dispensed toilet bowl cleaning and/or sanitizing products, which contain dyes to provide a visual signal to the user that the product is being dispensed, are well known. Such products are sold in the United States under the brand names VANISH AUTOMATIC (Drackett Products), TY-D-BOL AUTOMATIC (Kiwi Brands, Inc.) and SANIFLUSH AUTOMATIC (Boyle-Midway). None of these products contains an iodophor sanitizing agent and all of them provide a color to the bowl water which persists between flushings. U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,384, Radleyy et al, issued Apr. 7, 1970, discloses a dual compartment dispenser for automatically dispensing a hypochlorite solution and a surfactant/dye solution to the toilet bowl during flushing. The dye which is taught in the patent is Disulfide Blue VN150. This dye is resistant to oxidation to a colorless state by hypochlorite; thus, it provides a persistent color to the toilet bowl water, even in the presence of the hypochlorite.
In order to meet the Environmental Protection Agency efficacy data requirements for in-tank sanitizer products claims for effectiveness, it is necessary that the user be able to determine the product effectiveness. That is, the color indicator must show that the sanitizing ingredient is still present in a sanitizing amount. Consequently, it is essential that the sanitizing agent have the same life in the sanitizing product as the color indicator.
The use of chlorine or hypochlorite ion as the sanitizing agent has the disadvantage that most dyes are oxidized to a colorless state and there is no visual indication that the sanitizing agent is active and working in the toilet bowl.
The use of iodine-containing formulations have been previously considered as sanitizing agents for toilets because of their greater sanitizing capabilities than chlorine-containing agents. However, the iodine-containing agents have not been previously employed in cake toilet compositions because they yield an unacceptable color in the toilet bowl. Also, prior to the present invention there has not been provided a means for providing a controlled release of iodine so that the iodine and dye will last for the life of the cleansing block. The most effective means to provide the iodine is through use of a germicidal complex of iodine with a copolymer which is commonly identified as an iodophor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solid cake composition containing iodophors which are suitable for use for automatically dispensing cleaning agents into the toilet.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a means for intensifying the sanitizing effect of the iodine released in iodophor-containing lavoratory cleansing blocks.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a lavoratory block which has a long and uniform block life that provides a controlled release of iodophor.
It is a yet still further object of the present invention to provide an iodophor-containing lavoratory block which releases a dye and iodophor for substantially the same period of time.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and appended claims.